58 General Notes. 
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. ! 
AFricA.—THE EASTERN DESERT oF Eaypt.—‘NotesonaSketch | 
Map of Two Routes in the Eastern Desert of Egypt” is an inter- 
vesting account of the scenery, ete., of a little-known part of Egypt 
proper, viz., the stony desert lying between the Nile valley and the 
Red Sea. The desert rises from the Nile for about a hundred miles, 
where the elevation is 2,000 feet, and thence shelves more sharply , 
to the Red Sea. The Red Sea slopes are blessed with frequent rain- 
storms; waterfalls, crystal pools, fern-clad grottoes, even trees, 
can be found in the wadis or valleys which seam their sides, and 
even the Nile slope has its picturesque ravines and tree-sprinkled 
nullahs. The inhabitants of the district are the Ma’aze tribe of 
Bedawin, who live in goats’-hair tents, to the north ; and the more 
civilized Ababdi to the south. This Eastern Egyptian desert was 
probably the scene of the first monasteries in the world. Those of | 
St. Anthony and St. Paul, about nine miles apart, and situated 
about seventeen miles from the coast, in latitude 29°, are still visited 
by travelers. 
Almost the entire traffic between Rome and India passed, two 
thousand years ago, along the old trade route between Kosseir, on 
the Red Sea, and Koptos (modern Kuft), on the Nile. Every five’ 
or six miles along the route a more or less ruined khan exists. — In 
the Messiigh El Bagar are quarries, once worked by the ancient 
Egyptians, and bearing inscriptions by the Persian conquerors. 
Roman stations exist, one of them is Saghi or Naka’al Teir. Ibex: 
are abundant, choosing for their home the wildest and most inacces- 
sible mountains. 
THe Ratan Moeris.—Mr. Cope Whitehouse sees in the Raian 
basin the Lake Meeris of ancient geographers, and states that sur- 
veys carried out under his direction by the authorization of the 
Egyptian government, prove that the area can again be converted 
into a storage reservoir for the surplus waters of the Nile. The 
number of reclaimable acres in Lower Egypt is given at about five 
millions ; and the surface of the Wadi Raian, at 20 metres above 
the Mediterranean, at 346,000,000 metres, with 25,540,000 metres 
of contents. Colonel Ardah states that there are no engineering 
difficulties in the way of utilising this large basin. 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF FERNANDO PO.—Petermann’s Mit- 
teilungen contains an account of the physical geography of Fernando _ 
Po, by Oscar Baumann, a member of Dr. Lenz’sexpedition. Theisland 
1 Edited by W. N. Lockington, Philadelphia, Pa. 
E Se eter a arg, Ba TN AP ty Rh ane Pattee BS 
